i have deleted the mysql.pid file located at /application/mamp/tmp/mysql/mysql.pid and i still get the error above. I can't find where MAMP has set --skip-locking set, my.cnf doesnt have it anywhere.

Activity monitor gives me a mysqld process running by me, and everytime i KILL the process both via Activity Monitor and via kill =9 pid it starts right back up.. Sampling the process points back to the MAMP mysqld.. wtf?!

About to throw MAMP out the window and boot up a VM of CentOS =) Actually, that's the best idea IMHO.
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Sven♦Jun 24 '12 at 6:33

Yeah its just a development environment, and honestly this app is a piece of crap =). However my problem was user error. the production environment is a CentOS DV4 server @ mediatemple.
–
gorelativeJun 24 '12 at 6:36

1 Answer
1

i installed another application for my own AMP stack to replace MAMP called WebStart, which wrote a my.cnf file to /etc/my.cnf as a result MAMP is also configured to look there by default, and then the /applications/mamp/tmp/mysql/my.cnf file. Due to this scenario the my.cnf file located at /etc/my.cnf had the line --skip-locking in it.

I deleted the /etc/my.cnf file and then started MAMP up, and started mysql. All is working now.

For anyone else at their wits end, make sure you only have one instance of MySQL installed, this includes mysql.pid and my.cnf files. Search your entire mac for them.